Adrift
by disneyclassics101
Summary: Thumbelina and Cornelius spend a day together by themselves. The royal life has been getting to Thumbelina and Cornelius can't wait to show his love what he discovered. Disclaimer: I do not own DB's "Thumbelina"


**Adrift**

~0~

Rules, rules, rules!

Too many rules!

The storybooks never said anything about there being so many rules!

Don't slouch. Stand upright. No twittering. No moaning, whining, or tripping. Don't walk too fast. Shoulders back. Use this spoon. Don't clean the plate. Leave the work to the servants. Bow your head to anyone noble. Curtsy a little lower. Be in bed on time. Don't dawdle. Go to your lessons. Sit still. Acknowledge the people, but remain regal. Laugh daintily, not gregariously. Always be dressed. Be friendly but detached. Be fair and logical. Stay within sight of the guards. Stay present, stay pleasant, stay proud.

She understood now why Cornelius was so eager to skip out and hide with the humans.

Thumbelina tried really hard not to yawn as her designated professor continued on and on with sharing the history of the royal fairy family, how King Colbert was actually King Colbert the Third, how his great-grandfather united the fairy people and began a royal dynasty, how Queen Tabitha came from a long line of nobles where she was the first born female, how Cornelius had cousins scattered across France acting as lords and dukes who watch over more distant villages and report to the King and Queen. It was all fascinating but not when she had been plowed over with the information for the past three weeks, four times a week, three hours at a time.

It was a blessing that Cornelius felt a little rest and relaxation was in order after he himself had been subjugated to more lessons on etiquette – after forsaking his kingdom during his search for Thumbelina, even if it was a noble cause – and sword lessons – because how could a prince have so much trouble warding off a ghastly toad with barely a weapon at hand?

Sneaking away was easier than she thought, but she guessed having her angsty and rebellious fiancé – who was more than knowledgeable about their kingdom's defenses and knew about a hundred ways to get around it off the top of his head – had a lot to do with it. She only hoped their absence wouldn't be noticed for a while yet, but considering how worried and paranoid her future-mother-in-law could be, she guessed that was a fruitless hope. Still, she couldn't help but giggle as the wind carried them further from the Vale and closer to their destination, wherever that may be. Only Cornelius knew where they were going.

Although, to be honest, she was pretty sure she had seen that particular group of trees and that rock before. Various times.

"Um, Cornelius?"

He didn't even turn around. "Don't say it."

"So, we are lost?" She asked softly.

"You said it."

"Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue."

"Cornelius!" Thumbelina grumbled, slightly annoyed.

"It was supposed to be on the left side of the fork in the forest."

"And what happened?"

Cornelius scowled. "If I knew that would we be lost?" He replied harshly.

Silence.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Do you know how to get back to the Vale from here?"

"No."

"I see…" Thumbelina looked around, although she knew she wouldn't find anything that would help her, being as she was even less knowledgeable about the forest than her fiancé. "Cornelius, stop. We're only getting more lost in here."

Cornelius tsk-ed but complied, aiming Buzzby toward an outcropping by a river. They alighted close to the edge and Thumbelina gratefully dropped out of Cornelius' arms after he picked her up off Buzzby. She stretched a little, relieving some of the soreness in her limbs after being in the same position so long. She silently moaned when a crick in her neck sounded. She watched for a few seconds at what Cornelius was doing before moving closer to the water.

With his back turned to Thumbelina, Cornelius gazed up at the sky, paying close attention to the position of the sun without looking directly at it. He recalled that from the Vale he could see when the sun set over the horizon so if he could only figure out where the sun was heading then they could head in that direction too. Too bad for them, it was midday and the sun was high in the sky perfectly centered. Cornelius' eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He turned at hearing a splash behind him. It seemed Thumbelina had no problem with where they had landed.

Looking in to the water, Thumbelina grinned at her reflection before smoothing down her wind tussled hair a little. A breeze passed by and she inhaled the scent of spring in the air. The ledge they were at was a hop above the water and considering that she could see the river's floor, she gauged that it wouldn't be a bad thing if she jumped in and refreshed herself. Cornelius had taken the time to teach her to float the past few weeks.

She bit her lip and glanced at Cornelius. He was still turned away so she lifted her heavy dress off her shoulders and placed it on the ground. She had a thin camisole under her dress, and thankfully no corset – wings didn't allow for corsets much to her relief. Kicking off her shoes, she gleefully jumped feet first into the water. It was cold but getting completely submerged helped ward off the chill quickly enough. Extending her legs, she stood and looked up to see Cornelius looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

He blushed and looked away at seeing what she had on, or didn't have on. The dress had gone unnoticed.

"Come down here, Cornelius! The water is amazing!"

"I don't think that's the best idea…"

"Why?" Thumbelina giggled, then dropped a hand into the water and splashed him causing him to hold up a hand. "Come on!"

"Oh man." He muttered, but resolutely sighed and turned to take off his tunic and weapons. He laid them down next to Thumbelina's dress, stretched briefly, and took a running start toward the ledge. He smiled at both the thrill of falling and Thumbelina's joyous laugh as she swam further away. The water really was refreshing.

"I miss days like this."

"So do I." Cornelius agreed, swimming closer. He nudged at her playfully. "I told you being royalty wasn't all it was cut out to be."

"There's a lot more work than I thought for sure."

"Still want to marry me?" Cornelius smiled playfully.

Thumbelina turned to him sharply and gave an uncharacteristic glare. "Of course I do! How could you ask that?"

Cornelius' smile widened. "Sorry, princess."

"Not a princess yet."

"Soon." Cornelius asserted. "Very soon." He racked his eyes down when she turned away, and muttered to himself, "Not soon enough."

Thumbelina glanced back. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh nothing. I stubbed my toe." He passed off easily.

"Oh." She kneeled down further into the water with a sigh. "What were you doing before?"

"Something my father taught me. See, if you know where the sun rises and sets you can figure out where's east and west, north and south. Stars would've worked best but that's obviously impossible now. Not that the sun worked very well," he gestured to the sky, "it's smack in the middle of the sky." He frowned up at it and immediately looked away when he got spots in his eyes.

"Ah, well. At least, we get to go swimming for a while."

"I guess."

And swimming they did, or as much as Thumbelina could while staying close to shore. Cornelius had no problems swimming further out, periodically diving under the water and coming back up with goodies from the floor, like shells and colorful rocks he swiftly handed over to Thumbelina. One time he even dove a little further down when he saw a shiny golden glow behind a rock, discovering it to be a coin the humans use to purchase items. This little escapade ended with Thumbelina expressing worry over how long he had spent under the water and Cornelius coming up with a particularly foolish and diabolical idea.

He deliberately swam a little further out before diving again, grabbing hold to a plant so his body wouldn't naturally float up, and looked to where Thumbelina's legs were standing in the water.

It wasn't long after that he could hear Thumbelina's muffled voice calling out his name above the surface. He smiled and carefully swam closer, making sure Thumbelina couldn't see him yet.

"Cornelius? Cornelius! Where are you?"

He swam closer.

"Cornelius! This isn't funny!" She turned around.

Cornelius took the opportunity to swim up behind her.

"Please, Cornelius?"

He jumped.

Thumbelina shrieked as she was suddenly scooped up into a pair of arms and was taken to the sky. She looked up into Cornelius' laughing face and shivered as he projected forward. Looking down to where they were going, Thumbelina yelled in protest as the land grew further away and the water got darker and darker signifying how deep it was. Cornelius paid her no mind as he hovered above the middle of the river for a moment and thrusted his arms up, effectively throwing Thumbelina out of his arms. Not being instinctively used to wings yet, Thumbelina plummeted to the waters below almost unable to close her mouth in time before it swallowed her whole.

Cornelius laughed merrily looking down before diving in after her.

Thumbelina fumbled around underwater, trying to see where the surface of the water was as she demanded her limbs to move the way Cornelius instructed her too, before the effort was rewarded with a warm body grabbing her from behind and dragging her to the surface.

"Cornelius!" She protested, coughing up some water and taking in lungful's of air after the scare. "Don't do that! I can't swim!"

"You'll only learn how to swim with experience." Cornelius replied, chuckling.

"Not if I drown while trying."

"You won't drown if I'm holding you. Now," he scooted back and Thumbelina grabbed fast to his hands, "like I taught you, leaned back, relax, and be like the wind: weightless."

Thumbelina hesitated. "Um…"

Cornelius turned her around. "Come on, I have you."

A brief kiss on her lips and Thumbelina began to slowly lean backwards, releasing a small bout of breath, and loosening her muscles. When she felt arms across her back and thighs, she further let go of her fear and closed her eyes against the sun, feeling the water get into her ears as she sunk slightly into the water. She looked up into Cornelius' eyes and grinned.

"Ok. I'm going to let go now. No! No. Relax… Good, just stay like that and… See? You're floating!"

Thumbelina grinned but didn't move a muscle. Cornelius chuckled.

"You can still move, you know?"

"I think I'm okay the way I am, thank you."

He shifted away. "Then by all means." He almost chuckled at how Thumbelina didn't even glance at him when he swam toward her head, but did feel her tense when he grabbed at her hands.

Feeling Cornelius' hands stretch to grab at hers, Thumbelina tensed and tried hard not to make any sudden movements as he pulled her arms further up so they stayed linked, forming a kind of diamond with their linked arms outstretched and legs straight out. She felt when his arms relaxed and let out a breath to match his languid demeanor.

Soaking in the sun from above, the lovers stayed adrift for minutes more, becoming one with the river, letting the water massage tensions from their muscles and cool their mental states. With the winds tickling their exposed skin and the water muffling the sounds of the natural world it was only reasonable for the engaged couple to turn their reflections inward and let the times of the past come forth once more.

For Thumbelina, memories of the past few weeks soaked her mind with unforgiving ruthlessness. When she had first heard of the possible existence of fairies from her Mother, she welcomed the news that on the off chance there could be people her size in the world, people that could take her in their arms and talk to her like a normal person. She even briefly wondered herself if she were one of those fairy creatures, if only it weren't for the significant lack of wings upon her back. Not that it wasn't wonderful having her Mother be her mother, and spending those early days on the farm were delightful enough, but having everything around her, everything humans of her mother's sizes would find miniscule and hardly heavy at all, dwarf her and drag her down brought down her spirits. Even those twigs that barely caused a batting of an eye to the farm animals proved to be bigger than her small frame. Who could help it but feel alone in the world, the great big world where she was barely a speck of dust to the creatures inhabiting it?

When Cornelius descended upon her windowsill, it was like he brought the sun with him, in more ways than one. He filled a part of her soul that felt empty, he taught her that there was hope in the world, he taught her that she wasn't alone, that she could be loved. And she loved him in return. He was bright, and warm, and wonderful. He was everything she ever wished for and he gave her a place in the world. But her new place in the world brought many hardships and new, not all completely pleasing, experiences. For one, she was entering the world as a nobody. No one knew her. No one had heard of her. She just appeared in their little vale, on the arm of their beloved prince, the cause of his near death, with little idea of how the fairy world worked. She wasn't particularly liked by the more noble ladies – though she could guess why, she was naïve but not stupid – and the males certainly didn't look at her with respect. They tolerated her and spoke to her only when necessary lest they disrespect the royal family in some way. It hurt that they could so easily dismiss her. It was only the continual ranting of her fiancé about the behavior of the Court and how much he couldn't stand being in the same room as them that stopped her from running to her chambers and crying. In his eyes, they were all stuffy and stuck too closely to tradition for his liking, not to mention how angered they become when the rules aren't followed. That the prince himself, her future husband, held little regard for them came as an odd comfort to her. If what he said was true, even a little bit, than it wasn't necessarily her that was disconcerting to them but rather what she represented: a deviance from the laws and traditions they knew and held dear.

That didn't mean it still didn't hurt.

At least the royal family, her future family, weren't so setback in their ways. Sure, it seemed like the Fairy Queen was rather concerned over the future princess being a barely educated once-human but she wasn't dismissing her as a worthless being. In fact, it seemed like the Queen was taking her under her wings in a way, as a daughter of her own. It was her that arranged to have Cornelius' past tutors come in and teach her all things history, economic, and political. It was her that arranged to have more clothes in her closet. And it was her that called her over to fill out papers so she could have a more hands-on experience, even if the time was mostly spent answering her questions about things she didn't quite understand yet. She was grateful for her efforts just as much as she was for Colbert's efforts. While to many it didn't seem as if the Fairy King was putting too much time getting to know his future daughter-in-law, she knew the opposite was true. He wasn't as outspoken and attention drawing as his Queen was, but behind doors, where no one was around to eavesdrop, he would often encourage and salute her efforts to understand her role as both fairy and princess. He was a man of few words but the words he did utter were full of wisdom and often left her reanimated.

Cornelius' thoughts ran along the same, yet different, lines. Being the sole heir of the fairy royal family, he had more realistic views on how the Court system truly worked. So far, he had been able to shield Thumbelina from the worst of the degrading comments and snide remarks made behind doors where the speakers didn't think he'd be able to hear them. Comments such as Thumbelina's bastard status as a fairy, how undeserving she was of wings, and on her lack of education for a system she didn't even know existed. Not to mention how harsh they were in their beliefs that she had seduced him somehow even though anyone that ever spoke to her could tell how sweet and endearing she really was. Cornelius would often be left clenching his teeth and balling his fists whenever he overheard such comments and his father – who had recently taken to bringing Cornelius' over to many of his meetings and other activities in hopes of molding the wayward teenager into the model leader he was meant to be – would have to step in and chastise his Court members on their flippant and atrocious behavior. He could overhear their hurried apologies but Cornelius knew they were only ashamed at being caught; they had no love for Thumbelina.

At least not all of his people were as close-minded and rude as those noble families, however. Often, he would escape the flower patch his family was housed in and oversee the activities of the less noble families before he left on an expedition, bringing with him Thumbelina half the time, and he couldn't be more pleased at how accepting some of the families were at Thumbelina's attitude. In their eyes, she was a welcome change to the royal family. She was eager to know how they did many of their trades, spoke to them as their equal, and seemed genially interested in their affairs and wellbeing. It wasn't that his parents were unfair in their judgement and execution of laws, but they often neglected getting down and personal with the people they led. To Thumbelina, who had never been able to do much at her mother's oversized house, everything that seemed so mundane to the fairies seemed to be an amazing and incredible discovery. He wasn't dumb though, he knew some of them were hesitant and dubious at having a non-royal, inexperienced girl as the next Queen but he was sure that once Thumbelina caught up with the studies they would be more relaxed at the thought.

Of course, thinking about how the fairies reacted upon meeting Thumbelina brought forth thoughts about when _he_ met Thumbelina for the first time. It hadn't been planned. In fact, he had no plan that night other than getting away from that ridiculous parade his parents forced him to partake in while they washed the Vale with fairy dust. He had managed to escape having to ride on that white butterfly – How manly! Not – only through years of experience. Coming across Thumbelina's window was a very, very, _very_ , welcome surprise. He thought love was overrated and that happy couples always exaggerated how they felt about their significant other, but upon gazing into Thumbelina's eyes he knew he was wrong in his thoughts. She was a beacon of light in his lonely life. Sure, he had his parents with him, but being that everyone else in his life treaded carefully around him due to his social status, he never knew how amazing it would feel to have that special someone that would make him feel on top of the world.

He was just drifting off into a dream of him and Thumbelina during married life when he felt Thumbelina shake his hand. "Cornelius?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we visit Mother next time?"

Cornelius yawns. "Sure. Whatever you want." He squeezed her hand back.

"Thank you." She answered with a squeeze of her own. A moment passed before, "Cornelius?"

Cornelius opened his eyes. "Yeah?" he elongated the word a little.

"I can feel myself burning. Can we go back to the shore?"

"As you wish, my princess." He answered mischievously, standing up in the water. He held on to Thumbelina as she did the same but was too short to reach the floor and pulled her along as they got back to where Buzzby slumbered.

On the shore both parties wrung out their wet clothing and redressed in the garments they came in. Wanting to give Thumbelina a little privacy and preserve what little modesty they still had between them, Cornelius turned his back to her as she pulled her dress over her head. At doing this, though, his eyes landed on a fairly flat piece of bark no bigger than the size of a fully-grown human that would work perfectly for the sudden idea he had in mind.

He flew over and stood on it, testing its freshness and sturdiness before moving to drag it to the waterfront.

"What are you doing, Cornelius?"

"I…" he grunted as the bark was dragged over a pebble, "am going to make a boat."

"A boat?" Thumbelina's eyebrows shut up in surprise. "Why would you ever want to do that?"

"Because it will be fun." He smirked at seeing her dubious expression. "You'll see."

And she did see, well, sort of, when Cornelius found a particularly long stick that wasn't too heavy and pushed the bark into the water, waiting a moment to see if it floated, and then pulled her – and the stick – onto the 'boat'. She sat on the backend of the bark and watched Cornelius' back on the frontend as he dropped one end of the stick into the water. When it reached the floor, he pushed against the floor to propel the bark forward, much like how a human would use a crutch when a leg failed them. Soon they were drifting down the creek and Thumbelina relaxed a little seeing how the experience was very different to her time on that lily pad.

At some point in their journey, Cornelius felt a drop of water fall on his hand. He paid no attention to it until a few more fell on his arm. Figuring it was Thumbelina splashing him, he turned and looked at her. She was leaning over the makeshift boat and looking at her reflection in the water as she brushed her hair down. Cornelius turned back around thinking she'd stop now that he knew.

Seconds later, though, another droplet fell on his face. "Thumbelina, are you splashing me?"

"What? No. Why?" she responds immediately.

Seeing that the river wasn't particularly rough, Cornelius looked up and cursed seeing a dark cloud hanging above their head. He had noticed the vicinity get darker but had assumed it was a random cloud blocking out the sun momentarily. He was very wrong.

Buzzby came over as the rain picked up. Being the gentleman he was, Thumbelina was lifted up by Cornelius onto Buzzby first before he leapt on and the trio were on their way looking for shelter. The closest haven they could find was a nearby dense bush so they huddled there for protection.

"This is so not how I wanted the day to end." Cornelius bemoaned.

Thumbelina hummed and leaned on his shoulder with a smile. "It wasn't all terrible. Thank you for taking me out, Cornelius."

Cornelius snorted. "You do realize without the sun I have no way of getting us out of here."

"So? The sun will come out again, but we'll never get to repeat today ever. There was a phrase for something like this. What was it again?" She put a finger to her lips. "Oh, yeah. 'Carpe Diem'. Seize the day."


End file.
